Chapter Thirty-Three
It didn’t feel different at first.
That was what unsettled me the most.
I had expected something immediate—a shift, a reaction, a clear sign that what I’d just chosen had changed everything.
But instead…
there was nothing.
No surge of pressure.
No overwhelming presence.
No quiet pull at the edges of my thoughts.
Just stillness.
And me.
Standing in it.
Breathing through it.
Waiting.
“You’re quiet,” I said softly.
Not because I needed reassurance—
but because I needed confirmation.
That this was real.
That the silence meant something.
Not just absence.
But control.
A pause.
Then—
So are you.
I exhaled slowly, my shoulders loosening just slightly.
Because that—
that sounded different.
Not distant.
Not cold.
Just… present.
“I’m thinking,” I ad
